Chaimongkol Temple raised 800,000 baht with its latest “tod pha pa” robes-giving ceremony.
Region 13 Ecclesiastical Gov. Phomkavee and Banglamung District Chief Naris Niramaiwong closed the Jan. 29 fundraising drive at the South Pattaya temple with Abbot Panyarattanaphorn.
Phomkavee thanked devotees for their combined donation of 814,740 baht, which will be used to fund teaching of the Ten Precepts in Pali for grade 1 and 2 students before they take their Grade 5 exam.
Thod pha pa, or picked-up robes, ceremonies are held at any time of the year by temples needing to raise money for construction or rehabilitation of facilities and other projects, such as ecclesiastical training. They began in ancient times as just a way for people to make merit by giving monks new robes. But today cash, not robes, is the primary donation.
